India hangs 4 over 2012 Delhi bus rape

By Cheena Kapoor

New Delhi, India (AA) - India on Friday hanged four people convicted for the rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in 2012, according to the Delhi Police.

"Nirbhaya gang rape & murder convicts hanged at Central Prison Tihar today. Adequate arrangements were put in place to facilitate execution of the verdict of Hon'ble Supreme Court," tweeted the Police Commissioner's office of West Delhi.

Hours before the hanging, the Supreme Court, in a pre-dawn hearing, rejected the plea filed by one of the convicts seeking a review of the death penalty.

The four men, Akshay Kumar Singh (31), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26) and Mukesh Singh (32), were hanged at 5.30 a.m. local time (0000GMT) at the Tihar jail, Asia’s largest prison in Delhi. In the last few months, the attackers had filed a series of petitions to delay the execution.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Justice has prevailed. It is of utmost importance to ensure the dignity and safety of women. Our ‘Nari Shakti’ [power of women] has excelled in every field. Together, we have to build a Nation where the focus is on women empowerment, where there is an emphasis on equality and opportunity.”

The assault on the young woman -- given a pseudonym "Nirbhaya" meaning "fearless" as under Indian laws the rape victims cannot be named -- had led to outcries all around the world and India.

Various women groups and campaigners had demanded strict laws against the women's assaulters.

The case has been a turning point in terms of stirring national conscience and has led to changes in a host of laws related to women safety, including Code of Criminal Procedure, and the announcement of "Nirbhaya Fund" of $1.33 billion for empowerment, safety, and security of women and girls in the 2013 budget.

On Thursday, a standing committee on the Human Resource Development Ministry shared its report in the Upper House of the parliament, on issues related to women's safety.

The Committee noted that as per the National Crime Records Bureau data of 2018, the total number of all forms of crimes against women has been rising continuously for the last decade. In 2012, the number of such crimes was 244,270 which rose to 359,849 in 2017, and to 378,277 in 2018.

- Attack on Nirbhaya

On the evening of Dec. 16, 2012, at around 8 p.m. local time (1430GMT) group of men in a bus first attacked Nirbhaya’s friend, following an argument, beat him up with an iron rod, after which he fell unconscious. Then they raped her, and the victim later died at a hospital in Singapore, where she had been transferred by the Indian government for treatment.

Of the six attackers, the oldest, Ram Singh, 34, had killed himself in 2013, soon after the trial had begun, in the prison. The youngest of the lot, a juvenile of 17, was sentenced to three years in a juvenile correctional facility and was released in 2015. He now works in South India as a cook. The remaining four were hanged on Friday.

“I thank every citizen of this country as well as the government. The hanging was delayed, but I am happy that finally they have been hanged. It is a win for all the daughters of the country,” said Nirbhaya's mother, as reported by local media.